TEXAS, USA — Now that the CDC has given the green light to Pfizer, doses of their COVID-19 vaccine can now be administered to kids as young as 12.
Twenty-seven percent of East Texas is fully vaccinated, including resident Bryant Jackson.
"I hate that I got it, because I got the Johnson and Johnson the day before they recalled it,” he said.
He regrets the kind of shot he got, but says he won’t stand in his step-daughter’s way of the vaccine.
He said, “I would leave it up to her.”
Trina Strange and her 15-year-old daughter, Laney, were feeling just as uneasy.
“I don’t want to take it because it only took them six months to make and they want to pass it out… Uh uh, I’m not feeling it," Laney said.
Mom wasn’t far behind.
“I’ve heard too many people have gotten sick from the vaccination and so I’m just really concerned about what the side affects could be. It wasn’t researched for very long and so, I just don’t feel comfortable taking it,” she said.
The FDA has pushed the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use for kids 12 and older. This comes after a clinical trial with 2,200 participants. The most commonly reported side effects, which typically lasted 1-3 days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever and joint pain.
Sophomore at Tyler Legacy, Gabriel Perez, felt left out as he watched older people qualify and go get the shot while he couldn’t. At 15, he was just barely too young.
“I've seen other people get it. And I wanted to feel safe without a mask because I want everything to go back to normal,” he said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said that based on the current pace of research, it may be possible to have a vaccine for at least some children in grade school and preschool by 2021-22 school year.